Concord overtakes Portsmouth in 9-10 district final

HOOKSETT — The final out was indeed the hardest one for the Portsmouth 9- and-10-year-old Little League All-Star baseball team.

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By DAN DOYON

seacoastonline.com

By DAN DOYON

Posted Jul. 14, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By DAN DOYON

Posted Jul. 14, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

HOOKSETT — The final out was indeed the hardest one for the Portsmouth 9- and-10-year-old Little League All-Star baseball team.

With a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning, all No. 2 Portsmouth needed was one more out to secure Sunday afternoon's District II championship game against top-seeded Concord.

Instead, Concord rallied for three runs and held onto the lead in the bottom of the inning for a 4-2 victory at Donati Field. Isiah Roblez's two-run triple off Portsmouth reliever Carmen Zingarello provided the winning margin.

"It was a great game; it just didn't go the way we wanted in the last inning and you have to give them a lot of credit for battling back," Portsmouth coach Scott Perkins said. "It's a little sad because we didn't want the ride to end, but we're going to try to be happy with where we're at."

Portsmouth (6-3) had advanced to the title game with Saturday's 4-2 win over Lamprey River in the semifinals. It was attempting to win the program's first district championship since it won 12 straight from 1998-2009.

Concord (9-0) will return to Donati Field for next Saturday's first game of the best-of-three state championship series. Concord will play the winner of the District I title game between Windham and Jaffrey/Rindge, which was slated to be played Sunday.

"Portsmouth is always strong and no matter what they're going to battle," Concord coach Tom Philbrick said. "We both got great pitching today and it just came down to some timely hits."

Portsmouth broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth on singles by Max Lalime and Noah Foster off Concord starting pitcher Cam McGonigle. An error allowed Portsmouth to take a 2-1 lead.

Zingarello relieved starter Ben Baroni to begin the top of the sixth when a walk and an error left runners on first and second base with one out. Zingarello struck out Jamie Burns, but Roblez followed with a crushing triple to center to give Concord a 4-2 lead.

Colin Marshall led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. Ryan Philbrick relieved McGonigle and, with one out, Concord turned a 2-3-6 double play to end the game.

"Our defense played outstanding today," Tom Philbrick said. "That was a big-league double play. Most people don't see that."

After doubles from Jack Bussiere and Lalime tied the game in the second, McGonigle held Portsmouth down. McGonigle allowed one earned run on six hits and two walks in five-plus innings.

Baroni stepped up to that challenge with six strikeouts in five innings. He allowed only two hits, one being a Brook Craigue RBI double that gave Concord a 1-0 lead in the first.

"Ben was outstanding," Perkins said. "One more inning would have been better, but even Carmen did what we need him to do, but they hit the ball. It was just a good game until the end and it was just won on hits."

Perkins has no problems with how his team played this summer, which began with a 1-0 loss to Concord in the season opener.

"I'm proud of these boys; they battled and we were one of eight teams to come down to the last two," Perkins said. "We played a great game here at the end. We did what we set out to do and we left it out all on the field."